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Welcome Angela;
You certainly sound like a lady of diversified interests, bet you never have a dull moment. I became enamoured with the W&W machines after learning a bit of their history.
Allen B Wilson was the originator of the rotary hook mechanism as well as the 4-motion feed dogs. While there are members here who have more W&W's than I do I have acquired a fair assortment of them. In treadles I have a #3, #8, #9 & D-9. In hand cranks I have a #9 & a D-9. I have one D-9 which is a very old electric Conversion.
Beyond that I have several which are just heads without the drive mechanism, the oldest being an 1860 #1. Also have a quite early #9 head which had not yet acquired the automatic tension release on raising the presser bar. On my early D-9 handcrank the bobbin threads opposite of any other D-9 I have seen or had reference to. All the manuals I have seen also show the later direction of threading.
If you have any questions come up about these machines do not fail to enquire here, that is our purpose of existence.
Miller/TN

The company history is fascinating! Wilson sounds like an interesting man. I can't help wondering if his health was really as fragile as it's been represented in history. Brilliant minds do tend to be fairly eccentric.

I've heard the hand-cranks are difficult to come by. Congratulations on those finds! I hope to find earlier machines as time passes. I'm not in the best location for that, but you never know what folks have tucked away in their attics and basements. And I do enjoy the hunt. :-)

Angela;
It would appear that the vast majority of hand machines built by W&W were for the export market. My D-9 was bought from a dealer in Texas who had brought it back from England. The #9 I found in Huntsville AL & do not know any of its history, but it likely was a bring back also. I live around 50+ miles north of Huntsville.
The #9 has a free standing 3-gear crank assembly while the D-9 has a pillar mounted crank wheel with internal gearing to mesh with a small gear mounted directly on the main shaft of the machine. It has no belt pulley. I have seen a D-9 with extended main shaft with the small gear mounted outside the belt pulley for a combination machine which could be either cranked or treadled.
Miller/TN

Hello Miller, Angela and all,
I recently wrote about a hand crank WW 8 that was for sale here in Ireland.
I have a 9 hand crank and also a 9 treadle in a 6 drawer rosewood table. The hand crank came with its manual , the square roller cover accessory box and extra feet and a wooden needle box with needles. It cost me 25 euro which is approx 25 dollars.
The treadle 9 came to me in two purchases , the rosewood table had travelled back from Boston with the lady I bought it from but she had disposed of the head.
So a good lady from this group sold me a head in the USA which was then brought back to Ireland by a good friend who regularly crosses the pond.
Sadly the Number 8 deal didn't go through. I went to view it and there wasn't a single accessory with it , not even a wooden cover and at 120 euro or dollars and a totally inflexible vendor I decided to pass.
Will I regret this , possibly but Wheeler and Wilson machines are very rare here in Ireland so any buts I need would all have to be sourced in the USA .
What I will say is that the group are very fortunate to have people like Miller who have so much information about all these machines and I for one really appreciate all the advice and knowledge that you all share with us.
A big thank you from Ireland .
Kind regards
Stephen ?( in Ireland where summer is struggling to give us some sunshine )?

Stephen;
I will say that I believe W&W exported the vast majority of their hand machines. Probably one could have been ordered here in the US but few seem to have been so done. Most of the W&W hand machines available in the US today seem to be "Bring Backs" primarily from the UK. They thus seem to always ask a Premium for them here.
As I recall I had to give US $101.00 for my D-9 hand & US $150.00 for the #9. Neither had accesories but both did have the cases with covers. I have yet to find a #8 which I am able to afford.
I do live in a sector of the US where Hand Crank machines seem to be virtually unknown except to the few collectors around. Most other people seem to not be aware of their existence. Their Ancestors all used Treadles. Older treadles, especially Singers are in an abundance & can often be picked up rather inexpensively, but not so the hand machines.
There may be other areas of the country where the hand machines were more widely used but I don't believe the W&W's were common anywhere in this country. There were probably quite a few sent North to Canada & some of these may have migrated back South but they are just not in abundance here.
Miller